In a 3-year period, 94 patients with driving difficulties due to a variety of musculoskeletal disorders were assessed by the occupational therapy department of a rheumatology unit. The individual's ability to carry out each part of the driving process was recorded and the patients were classified into six broad categories. While some parts of the driving process often proved difficult, patterns of disability were found with different musculoskeletal disorders. Almost all of these difficulties could be overcome by simple modifications to vehicle or driving technique. Only one severely disabled individual required referral to a specialized mobility unit, while two individuals were found to be unsafe. Thus, almost all arthritic individuals are able to continue driving with the help of simple modifications. By providing an unsophisticated driving assessment service, a rheumatology unit can enable patients to continue driving and so maintain independence.

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mortality than RF or ESR. In GEE analyses, the strongest predictor of PMN was, by far, the use of prednisone, with users having 1.8 (1.6, 2.0) thousand cells increase compared to non-users. Weaker predictors of PMN included sex, HAQ, ESR, RF, disease duration, but not age. Conclusion Total PMN predicts mortality in RA as effectively as RF, and the predictability is robust to duration of disease as well as to fixed and time-dependent disease severity covariates. This simple test appears to have been overlooked, but adds significantly to our ability to predict mortality in RA. Corticosteroids are the strongest influence on PMN among RA patients, and might be an important factor in mortality increase in RA. Treatment related PMN reduction that occurs in clinical trials of biologic agents may be a marker for increased survival, and is a candidate variable for measurement of pharmaco-economic benefit.